Spoilers ahead for the latest episode of Star Wars: The Clone Wars Season 7, called “Together Again.”
The Clone Wars has officially wrapped the second and penultimate arc of the final season, with “Together Again” ending with Bo-Katan recruiting Ahsoka to depart from the Martez sisters and journey to Mandalore with the threat of Maul on the horizon yet again. The Siege of Mandalore arc is only a week away from kicking off on Disney+ and beginning the end of The Clone Wars. Ashley Eckstein, who has been voicing Ahsoka throughout the eras of the Star Wars saga, spoke about the Siege of Mandalore and the ending it presents for her character.
Ashley Eckstein viewed the completed Siege of Mandalore arc before chatting with CinemaBlend about all things Clone Wars, and she teased Ahsoka’s ending when asked why the Siege of Mandalore arc is the fitting way to close the series:
After seeing the Siege of Mandalore, the final arc, being a fan of Mandalorians myself, it was really cool. It was just, the storyline was awesome. Without saying too much, as a fan I was very pleased with the storyline. That being said, I think for Ahsoka it's giving her a proper end to The Clone Wars. Which we didn't get. The series was never meant to end with just Ahsoka walking away and walking down those stairs of the Jedi Temple. She was always meant to get a proper ending for the series, and this is a very proper ending for her in The Clone Wars. I think fans will be very pleased with what they see.
As Clone Wars fans undoubtedly remember, Ahsoka actually departed a season before the series was initially cancelled. After choosing to leave the Jedi life behind at the end of Season 5, she was absent from Season 6 but intended to return for the grand finale. With the Disney+ revival allowing the Clone Wars team to finish the story that was always meant to be told, Ahsoka is getting a “proper ending,” according to Ashley Eckstein.
The good news for fans is that Ahsoka, much like Captain Rex, is one character not to have to worry too much about in the Siege of Mandalore arc. Thanks to Star Wars Rebels, the Star Wars saga has revealed that Ahsoka still has a part to play in the years following the rise of the Empire. The missing piece of the Ahsoka puzzle has just been how she got from the young Jedi who walked away from the Order to who she was when she made her Rebels debut, and the Siege of Mandalore will fill in that blank.
While Ashley Eckstein didn’t spoil what to expect with the Siege of Mandalore, she did tease a battle that will be positively “epic,” saying this:
The battle that you will see is definitely epic. Literally, as you can tell now, I can't find my words. I was speechless, because when we record the episodes, we record it before we see the animation. They haven't even done the animation yet when we record. So I do my best job to imagine what Ahsoka is going through at the moment, but when I finally see the episodes, my mind is always blown because I'm like, 'Oh my gosh, that's not at all what I imagined!' And that's the case with this battle. It's not at all what I imagined. It's way more epic than I ever imagined. So from just the wow factor of a battle, I would say what you're about to see is even crazier than anything we've seen so far.
The trailer only showed brief flashes of the Siege of Mandalore, but even those glimpses were enough to guarantee that The Clone Wars is ending on something much grander than usual. And according to Ashley Ecksttein, it will also be “even crazier” than ever before, which is saying something when it comes to The Clone Wars!
In addition to revisiting the Mandalorians (well ahead of the days of The Mandalorian) and Mandalore itself, the Siege of Mandalore brings back Maul, who had a brief appearance in “Together Again,” and seemed to sense Ahsoka’s presence even via hologram. The Clone Wars supervising director Dave Filoni previously revealed (via StarWars.com) that Ahsoka and Maul will face off in a duel that "had to be among the best [duels], if not the best, we ever did.”
Given that Ahsoka was also part of an unforgettable lightsaber duel in Star Wars Rebels, I had to ask Ashley Eckstein how the battle with Maul will compare with the duel against Vader in Rebels. (Warning: light spoilers ahead for Star Wars Rebels, if you haven’t hit that point in your Star Wars TV watch just yet.) Eckstein explained:
I think the difference with Star Wars Rebels is there was the emotional battle that was also going on there. It was all of the emotion from that fight with Anakin and Ahsoka, or Darth Vader and Ahsoka. There was a whole different emotional level that was going on there. There's plenty of that too, in the Siege of Mandalore. Trust me, grab your tissues. The emotions are just going to take you on the wildest roller coaster. So the battles are very different, I would say, but very epic.
Fans shouldn’t expect Ahsoka vs. Maul to just be an early version of Ahsoka vs. Vader! They should also prepare for an emotional ride, based on what Ashley Eckstein had to tease about the Siege of Mandalore. The Clone Wars finale may change how some characters are thought of, which makes sense considering the fast approach to Revenge of the Sith and Order 66 in the Clone Wars timeline.
Find out how the Siege of Mandalore arc finally wraps up the story of Star Wars: The Clone Wars with new episodes releasing Fridays on Disney+. The trailer promises plenty of intensity that wasn’t included in the Bad Batch or Martez sisters arcs of Season 7 (as well as a Star Wars Rebels cameo sure to delight saga fans), so be sure to check the final episodes out.
Ashley Eckstein also wrote a book focusing on Ahsoka that’s available now and can deliver another fix of Anakin’s former Padawan with the end of Clone Wars nigh, and Ahsoka will be back (albeit in a new form) in another Star Wars series. For some additional viewing options not set in the galaxy far, far away, be sure to check out our 2020 midseason premiere schedule.
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